Ingmar Bergman: A Project for the Theatre ed. by Frederick J. Marker and Lise-Lone Marker (review)

590 Book Reviews FREDERICK J. MARKER AND LISE-LONE MARKER, editors and introduction. ingmar Bergman: A Project for the Theatre. New York: Frederik Ungar 1987. Pp. 215. illustrated. $11.95 (PS). Those of us reading the Markers' careful and comprehensive study of Bergman's stage productions. [ngmar Bergman: Four Decades in the Theatre, were intrigued by references to' a future bold and experimental "Project Bergman - the simultaneous production . .. of Ibsen's A Dol/'s House, Strindberg's Miss Julie and a new stage adaptation of , .. Scellesjrom a Marriage" (p. 220). Now we have a volume devoted to that bold and experimental "Project." We get, in faithful, elegant English translation, the texts ofthe three plays as Bergman adapted them. We also get "A Conversation with [ngmar Bergman," in which Bergman himself, in lively response to questions from the Markers, talks about his interpretation of the plays. Bergman then goes on at the end of his "conversation" to define one particular tension: The important thing to me is the tension that arises when men and women are brought together. Out of that tension, something positive can arise - but also something totally disastrous. Besides, I don't believe that complications and tension of this kind exist only between men and women. It has to do with something larger - with our incredible inability to understand each other as human beings, with something incredibly primitive and barbaric that exists not only in relations between the sexes, but in our relations with all human beings. And ifwe could ever resolve these tensions between human beings - then the problems between man and woman would naturally also be resolved (p. 18). The Markers give us, finally, a perceptive "Commentary on the Bergman Project," in which Bergman's vision of the three plays and the techniques used to project that vision are discussed. Nora becomes both "a boldly transformed theatrical paraphrase and a penetrating clarification of Ibsen's A Doll's House" (p. 19). The focus of the adaptation is, as the title suggests, Nora herself and her "struggle to free herself, by breaking out of the stifling atmosphere ofa moribund world of masks and roles in which she finds herself a prisoner" (p. 19). To do this Bergman eliminates most of Ibsen's reaHstic details. Instead there is "a succession of fragmentary settings, each consisting of a bare minimum of indispensable furniture and significant objects" (p. 20). One of these significant objects in the final scene is, not the table which Ibsen placed at the centre, but a large brass bed. Here we see the defeat and utter collapse ofTorvald. Indeed, although the focus of Bergman's adaptation may well be Nora, he does maintain that "A Doll's House is really the tragedy of Helmer.... And it must be made clear that Helmer's tragedy is fully as interesting as the development of Nora. He's a decent man trapped in his role of being the man, the husband" (p. tl). Nora's struggle is not the version's "undivided concern" (p. 19), as the Markers would have us believe. While the text of A Doll's House had to be drastically cut for Bergman to achieve the concentration and intensity he required, the text of Miss Julie is hardJy cut at all. Book Reviews 591 Bergman even incorporates some of the «deletions made by Strindberg in the original holograph manuscript of the play" (p. 32). An ugly scar. inflicted by lulie's late fiance, disfigures one cheek. The scar even begins to bleed after the sexual encounter between Jean and Julie. Julie is defeated in this play. The victory appears to be Jean'5 . But then, at the very end, there is the stunning reversal: Jean cowers at the sound of the count's bell; Julie, as Bergman's stage direction indicates, smiles calmly, walks flIIDly up the steps, and exits through the glass doors (p. 147). Somehow the victory at the end becomes hers; she realizes that "the last," which she now is, may be "first." Scenes from a Marriage is a stage adaptation of Bergman's film. The "scenes" are arranged so as to concentrate narrowly and deeply on the psychological struggle of the...